Are you...experienced?
One of the often asked questions on this forum is, "What is a McDojo, or, is this a McDojo?" The answers are generally provided from the perspective of those in the "know". Granted, those with the most simplistic understanding can figure out McWhatever is a process of providing a product with speed, quantity being the objective and quality sacrificed for profitability.
Ask 10 teachers that are being honest, and they will say 80-90 percent of schools are McDojo's, maybe higher. (I'd say about 99 percent) Ask the same 10 if they are McTeachers, and the answer is no. So, there is a problem, logic and fact do not match up.
Forget the various titles of the main person in the many arts, lets call them teachers. What is a teacher? A mentor? An instructor. A guide? A manager? All four?
A mentor is going to take to heart the feelings and understanding expressed by their subject, influenced by that, more than their own beliefs or wishes on that which may be most beneficial to their charge, though these sentiments would be provided as options as food for thought to the student.
An instructor can pass along valid material and information pertinent to the goal of the student, by and large, restricted to the subject material at hand. This is how to throw a cross, this is how the great Ali did it. The body is propelled, the arm launched, the fist lands. An instructor is little more than a verbal definition, possibly a visual example, but the "job" can be accomplished with command of a piece of the picture rather than the full spectrum. There is far more to a cross than I have identified, but for visual identification and demonstration purposes, it can suffice. Tape a child doing it, and while the many critics will have advice on how it can be better, if the question is asked, "What are they executing?", a cross will be the answer.
A guide can show one around a school. These are the lil dragons, these are the big dragons, that is the locker room. They don't need experience, just memorize a few things. A guide takes a person a place and says, this is it.
A manager, a good one, is essential to the business side of a school, but doesn't mean they are a good teacher. Yip Man is reported to have been an awful manager, loaning people money, doing favors that went unappreciated etc.
A teacher must be a mentor, and a guide of sorts, a "pointer to truth" as Lee said, and they must be able to instruct, though, technical information that requires physical movement to attain skill, when devoid of the true wisdom found in been there, done that, is reasonably useless. One can develop the ability to know things, without understanding them. If kids really understood fire is bad, they wouldn't be burning stuff down accidentally. Is a roll in the hay as good as it gets (and that is pretty darn good) or is that magic that occurs turning the woman to your personal angel during the same roll, as good as it gets?
Does length of time involved in a profession have anything to do with experience? If it does, how can a 40 year MA teacher be a McTeacher, and there has to be plenty if 90 percent of schools are. When Apple kicked Jobs out, they brought in an experienced CEO, dude turned Pepsi around and gained a large portion of the Coca Cola stake in the market, but almost ran Apple into the ground. There are teachers in the education system going through the motions for an entire career, very few people look back and cite having many great teachers, many say one taught them beyond the books.
Pro athletics have stat sheets on players, years of experience is calculated as a pro. All the pee wee, pop warner, high school, college experience means crap in the pros, because most don't make it. They develop technical skills and basic information, and can't transistion. An NFL player with 15 years is a lifetime, and the good one say they find out they knew nothing the first few years in the pros.. So we have these elite level guys, with 12 years or so of solid experience, that attain legendary status, and are embarrassed to cite their skill and ability as elite when a rookie, though those traits are why they were drafted.
Are you experienced, or are you a McTeacher?
edit - Kokoro, as I stated, technical info is readily available, it is the McTeachers best friend. I see people reference that site all the time, never been there. If a good teacher is also a student first, we know 80-90 percent are McTeachers, and that seeing is believing, how can a site like that be anything more than a propoganda tool? Is there some body of authority that is recognized and able to say what school is what based on...I don't know, it would seem it is based on reports and publicized curriculum, fees and contracts, etc. If we have been there and done that, we know we can't pass judgment without actually checking it. I think my definition is better, because again, it has nothing to do with martial arts, the Mc in Dojo. A convenience store is a McStore. Sears, Penny's, Target, Walmart, these are all McStores. The dilution of a process to get product to the masses is a way of life. Most teachers in the public ed system would probably love to be able to
be able to get more involved with each student, but the number of students, salary to teach them, locations, pretty much force educators to compromise. The difference between MA is, nobody has to attend classes, whereas we do public school.
I'd like to say experience yields caring about the student, but it doesn't. People can join community programs like make a wish, big brothers and sisters, but that can all be a bs front to help promote the school. As you know, I am talking about people that cite experience in years as what makes them credible. Do you think it is possible for a person that is 28 yo, to have 25 years of experience? Maybe in fantasy land but not in real life. That is the point. Can a person gain very valuable experience in a short time? Yes. But those are he rare people, and most are not going to get the experience of a Yamaguchi, Kano or Yip Man...ever...no matter how long they say they have been teaching and how many platitudes they can recite. If y
you divide that by 20, you get segments of 20, so it isn't as long as it looks.
edit - Mich, that is good advice, after you find a good dojo and have studied for 20 years, come back and we'll see if experience enables you to do more than have a brain fart.
Edit - JW, the question is not too long. There is no stipulation as to how accurate a person wishes to be, the guidelines suggest being as detailed as possible. The question itself is 3 words, I chose to expound for the sake of accuracy in my intent. As I suggested with the cross, I am well aware people will look at what I wrote, and contend points of accuracy, rather than look within.
How about honor? Every student that ever started training in a well known TMA, began that training understanding there is a system of promotion, and none of them include saying, ok, I can teach, I can open my own school. I don't care how good one is, and how experienced they have become under my definition. At the foundation of an art is, "Am I being true to what I have been taught?" Obviously, there are slews of people that have answered yes to that question, and more obviously, the "true" answer is no. Look at the Gracies family tree on their site, it's huge, those
people reproduce like rabbits, but in North America, the majority have BS certificates, that's why the Gracies distinguish themselves from BJJ, but only an idiot would argue it isn't 95 percent on them. Maeda only taught two family names.
Edit - Tom, back to the 90, as I said, I think it is closer to 99. I believe I have seen you comment on how things are done in Okinawa. To me, the global impact reduces the number in the cash cow, which would be the USA. I didn't miss that. If I am taught, and learn, through experience that dedication, devotion to the basics, belief in the instruction that benefit lies in the redundant and boring behavior of things I equate simply with physical motion, does in fact reveal more than I can knock someone out with a reverse punch, am I not bound by the truth if I hope to expand that understanding. Ever hear, "the devil is in the details"? Ok, paying rent is a fact of life, did I not know this before I opened the school? Was I not taught the "Way" is in the practice? Have I not experienced this and know it to be true? Compromising the way to pay rent is failure to adhere to the principles of truth, and therein lies the devil, having himself a good old time w
with the details.
Have you not learned from teaching your smaller classes, being able to spend more time with each student, that they progress more quickly, gain an understanding faster? In your city, how many schools can you identify, private teachers and otherwise, that have larger classes than you? I'd be willing to be 80-90 easily. Guess who loses? The student. Who is paying you to learn? If I teach a 1 hour class and have 10 people, that isn't even that large, each might get 6 minutes of quality instruction. How long did it take you to discover love, and how long would it take in 6 minute intervals?
edit - Possum, I didn't forget that either. One thing I think of when I see this forum is that it could be like wiki. Many people scoff at wiki, but the fact is, it has useful information. You're not a kid playing a game, many of the regular posters are not children, children defined as under 25. The kids are, I get that, but there seems to be a few adults that get off on that thumbs up and point accumulation just as much.
You're a teacher. You might be a crap martial arts teacher, and practitioner, and I don't really care what anyone says about TKD. I have my beliefs on the efficiency, am full aware of the raging debate between ITF and WTF, sport versus combat. When westernization is taken away from the art, time dating going back 40 years, within the foundation of the art TKD before division, are skills that can ruin an attackers day. I've seen you allude to the "Way" through a comparison using what you do teach, computer science. The thing tha
that struck me at the time was, you aren't seeing whatever it was that made me think that, in the teaching of TKD. Most people don't identify TKD as, after the layers of commands are pulled back, there is a TKD 0 or 1. They don't get a vote, I think you know that, so that illustration might satisfy the novice understanding some have of TKD, (people here) but it allows McTeachers brotherhood mentality.
If someone is happy, are you obligated to burst their bubble? That's an interesting thought, and mine is, yes, you are. "I have only come here seeking knowledge, things they would not teach me of in college, I can see the destiny you sold, turning into a shining band of gold" Whether they know it or not, they have come seeking truth, and while happiness is a pretty darn good truth, it isn't the one commonly associated with the primary understanding behind a martial art, and that is self defense. I am pretty sure the father would rather see an attacker
laying on the ground as his wife and kids stand there happily hugging him, than look up from a hospital bed and have to make sure everyone is happy. You didn't sell the destiny, they chose it, but the bottom line remains.
Is there a criteria? I think it is more a result. Have you discovered quality time with your kids (if you have them) or wife, becomes more precious and holds a fundamentally deeper appreciation for it? Have any regrets you didn't approach a moment in time you can't get back, differently? You say you teach kids and don't really seem to have any regrets, so, let me ask this. McTeacher Doe teaches a 4 yo child how to do a choke hold. The child understands when they feel the tap, they stop. Two toddlers are "rolling" and one gets choked a bit too much. A terrible tragedy occurs. Do you think that child has any concept of how they have ripped the hearts out of two parents? Does that child understand the other kid didn't go bye bye o
or is sleeping. That kid will be sleeping like a baby within 48 hours, why, because it is a baby. This is experience only someone older can possibly understand, and a teacher is there to provide an understanding of the information, not just how to physically manifest the information.
No, being the student of a top not teacher doesn't mean diddly in terms of understanding.
edit - Shaeeck, you're the McTeacher that thinks you can teach a 4 yo to choke responsibly and are proud of it, I guess the other McTeachers that read that post chose to ignore it. You are totally clueless, often citing how you started training in diapers. You are 27 or 28 and think you have 25 years of experience. Most adults don't include "rolling" in diapers and getting crap all over themselves. Sorry to disappoint you, but that isn't experience. Who else did you take on, Sponge Bob? Do you list your preschool as part of experience on your resume also? How about trips to the ice cream store? The DVD version is for those with comprehension problems, hope you enjoyed it.